Cork GAA bans media from county board meetings

A section of the attendance at the Cork County Board convention at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Cork GAA’s management committee has banned media from attending and reporting from county committee meetings this year.

In a bulletin released Friday, the executive sought to explain why it has chosen to stop journalists covering monthly events in future, citing the example of national Central Council which has been held in-camera for several years.

“In line with practice at National level, whereby the media attends Congress, they will in turn be welcome to attend County Convention as before,” it said. “As the agenda for County Committee has been reframed in 2024 to allow more open and transparent engagement with clubs, it is no longer appropriate for the media to attend.

“This is in line with practice at National Level, whereby the media do not attend Central Council meetings. After each Management Committee meeting (monthly), a bulletin will be issued by our PRO containing the main discussion points/decisions. Likewise, after each County Committee meeting (monthly), a bulletin will be issued similarly.” 

While some counties hold monthly meetings in private, media are welcome to attend and report from all of the other five Munster counties’  monthly meetings.

Adopting the communication policy of the GAA’s Central Council is a heavy-handed move for a county board. A recent review of Central Council, which currently meets eight times a year, didn’t consider media being permitted to attend the gatherings nor organising post-meeting press conferences or media events.

A briefing note will continue to be issued to clubs and the media. “A more detailed note risks being perceived as an alternative minute or official record of the meeting rather than a quick insight,” it read. “It would also take longer to prepare, in an environment where the real value is in information that is almost in real-time.” 

Meanwhile, Cork has also confirmed their amendment to the eligibility limit pertaining to U20 players lining out for senior teams at inter-county level. At next month’s Congress, they will propose a player in either code cannot play both senior and U20 within a 60-hour period and committees in charge of the U20 competitions shall make allowances when necessary in its scheduling.

Currently, players are not permitted to participate in in an U20 and senior championship game that fall within the same seven-day period.

Cork’s Allianz Football and Hurling League panels will be released later this month, while the distribution of the €1 million donated by JP McManus will continue at Tuesday week’s county committee meeting.